SMG Tools
Home
Every Course site within SMGtools includes a Home tool, the top-most button on the left. The Home tool in a course site has
three panels that display:
- A customizable banner or course information for the site
- A calendar summary
- A list of Recent Announcements
Some other tools, including Chat and Messages and Forums, also appear as panels on the home page if added to a course.
Customizing Course Information with your information or a site banner
The default Course Information panel title for a new Course site is "Course Information." Select the Options button
to change this to a more descriptive name (e.g., Welcome to SM555 Section A1) if you are the Site owner or administrator. The
"Customize Site Info Display" page will open and let you change the Title and Description for the site. You may want to
enter office hours or other information in the Description box. Click Update Options for the new Title and/or Description to take
effect.
To display a web page instead of a Description: type or paste the page's URL (e.g. http://www.mycompany.com) in the field
labeled "Site Info URL." You can adjust the display height of the Frame by choosing the appropriate pixel setting from
the Frame Height drop-down box.
You can also use the URL field to display a graphic banner for your site: upload an image file (e.g., jpeg, gif, etc.) to the
Resources area of the site and select Actions > Edit Details to show its URL at the bottom of the page. Copy the full URL and
paste it into the field labeled "Site Info URL." Be sure the file is shown (not hidden) in Resources. If hidden, it
will not display properly on the Home page.
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Calendar Summary
The Calendar Summary displays a calendar for the current month, showing events that have been added in the Schedule tool. Days
with posted events are highlighted and underlined on the calendar. Click a linked day to display the details of its events below
the calendar. Above and to the right of the calendar summary are navigation buttons which let you scroll backward or forward to
other months. Select "Today" from the navigation buttons to return quickly to the current day.
Recent Announcements (Options)
The Recent Announcements panel in the Home tool provides quick access to announcements recently posted to the site. If you are
the site owner or administrator, you can select the Options button to customize:
- How many lines of the Announcement to display
- How many past days of Announcements to display
- The maximum number of Announcements to display
After you change Recent Announcements options, select the "Update" button to make them effective.
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